The Next School Shooter

It’s coming. You know it, and I know it. Every rational person knows it. Somewhere in our nation, one or more people are preparing to go on a shooting rampage, and one of them may intend your child as a target. That shooter-in-waiting is already armed, already possesses the means to carry out the intended attack. It’s too late to talk about banning guns, bullets, gas masks or backpacks. The thug is already primed, and all that is now needed is for the fuse to be lit. Perhaps the death of a relative will be the trigger. Maybe it will be something in our highly polarized political environment that will ignite this rampage. There’s no way to know where the shooter will appear, but there’s no doubt that the shooter is waiting, and while we bicker about banning guns or ammunition or anything else, and while we talk about “mental health issues,” we are failing our children in a sickeningly fundamental way: We’ve shirked our first responsibility as parents to defend our children by leaving them defenseless in the face of monsters. We cannot pretend that we can intercept these shooters by banning their implements, and we must face the fact that the only way to protect our children is to rise in their defense.

When you deliver your child to the school in the morning, or watch them load onto the school bus, you’ve effectively discharged your responsibility; everything the school does with your child is a matter of the authority with which you vested them when you placed the school in loco parentis. You’ve effectively given the school temporary custody, presumably for the purposes of education. At the same time, our federal government has so thoroughly nationalized our schools that we have largely prohibited the faculty and administration of our schools from participating in the defense of our children. Except for licensed law enforcement officers, there’s nobody who can legally possess a gun on our schools’ grounds. When it is suggested that we ought to increase security at our schools, and that the faculty and administration of our schools ought to be included in that defense, it is said that teachers cannot be armed because they cannot be trusted to refrain from a shooting rampage of their own should a child or children get out of hand. In essence, we are told that teachers are a psychologically unbalanced lot, not to be trusted with guns.

This notion is always baffling to me, particularly when uttered by actual parents of minor children. Are we to understand that teachers and coaches and principals may not be entrusted with a firearm, but that they are to be trusted to act in loco parentis? We trust them to shape the minds of our children, but we cannot trust them to defend our kids? If an actual parent believes this, then there are only two rational options: 1.) Immediately withdraw your children from that dangerous school, or 2.) Reconsider your qualifications as a suitable parent for your children. It is self-evident that if a teacher or administrator is insufficiently trustworthy to possess and carry a firearm, they have no business whatever acting in place of me with respect to my child(ren.) If I can’t trust somebody with a gun, I certainly won’t trust them to instruct or oversee my kid(s.)

Bear all of this in mind when presented with the litany of excuses as to why we can’t or mustn’t arm non-police officers in our schools. Remember that the thug is already out there, waiting for the timer to go off, or otherwise be “triggered” on his way. The shooter is already armed. The shooter already has ammunition. You can ban guns and think you’ll discover him by psychological intervention, but you’re only kidding yourself, or permitting yourself to be misled. The only place you can approximately guarantee the safety of your child(ren) is at home, but even there, it’s not guaranteed. That said, you are in a position to defend your child(ren) in a way that is not possible in a conventional school environment.

It’s impossible to stress this point too thoroughly. We must defend our children, but it must be an active defense, rather than an exercise in apprehension of villains and recovery of bodies. Our teachers, administrators, coaches, and security must be armed and able to repel attackers. They must be trained. If we have teachers who cannot be trusted with a firearm, they should not be trusted with our children. That next school shooter is out there. It’s not possible to stop the shooter by banning anything. The shooter is likely already armed. The question parents must answer is this: If you know the shooter is out there, though you can’t know his location, identity, or motive in advance, how do you defend your children? Why are you sending your children to be safeguarded by people who are unable and/or unwilling to protect them? Why are you putting your children in the midst of people with whom you would would not trust a gun? The answer is an active defense. It must be.

There will always be killers among us. We can’t stop them all, and we can’t always intervene before they’re able to inflict casualties, but the only way we might is to present an unambiguous, active defensive curtain around our children, with trained, rational adults empowered to provide that defense. Everything else is political cowardice. It’s time, with all the evidence before us, for parents to insist that there be an active defense, or to withdraw their children from these schools. What do you have that you value more? On which political issue are your efforts better spent? It’s simple: We must insist that our schools be empowered to mount an active defense against violent assailants. If you sincerely wish to protect your children from the next school shooter, it’s too late to talk about bans. That shooter is already armed, perhaps casing the target, or merely awaiting a psychological trigger; your child(ren.) Only an active defense offers any hope.

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markamerica

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the unit

Sorry to be so wordy here, but…
Whatever I say here I’m not trying to be funny in this horrible situation and what we’re facing. I’ve read I think probably ALL “inside the box” comment solutions from so many sources…editorials, bloggers, commentators, experts, and etc. Most repeat one another. One expert, I guess he was, explaining about the difficulty of law enforcement responding to an active shooter call said first responder may be entering a Hot Front, a Warm Front, or a Cold Front. Was the expert a criminologist or a meteorologist?
If we want security and protection for our school children, we’re going to get what we pay for. A statistic I read said over a 10 year period the number of kids killed by gunfire was average 10/year. Cost to provide guards to all schools would be 15 billion/year. 10 kids saved @ 1.5 billion each. What’s safety and peace of mind worth to 75 million students and their parents? Note: Didn’t confirm the statistics and some of the linked sources have been removed. Probably a small cut in foreign aid or U.N. would cover it.
To some parents the school system is just a baby sitting service anyway and might not like having to pay more or really anything for it.
Some commentators have suggested that all students be home schooled. If so I would expect the statistic of kids drowned in the bathtub will rise.
I think the teachers who died in the Parkland school shooting would probably been fine to have been trained and armed for security. Empirically speaking though, my wife who is still teaching and will be 69 in May probably wouldn’t be the best choice.

http://www.markamerica.com/ Mark America

Unit,

I agree with you that it’s hard to derive perfect statistics or cost estimates, but here’s the thing: I don’t think it would cost anything like $75B, and I think there are options to gain pretty good coverage with volunteers among the faculty. Give an additional stipend to teachers who are able to 1.)Successfully obtain a Concealed Handgun License, 2.)Attend and complete some minimum advanced firearms training, and 3.)Be deputized for the limited circumstance of school security by the County Sheriff. Yes, lots of details to fill in, and it will not provide perfect, 100% coverage at all places and in all times, but it certainly gives the school SOME realistic response.

You’re also right about most parents regarding school as a baby-sitting service. That’s something that needs to change, but I don’t know how to change the whole culture in this regard. Homeschooling is a great option for many people, but many people aren’t willing to undertake the changes required in their daily lives and households. It’s also very difficult for one-parent families.

I think so many of our problems actually trace back to the grotesque welfare state we now have in place that nothing will save our country, and nothing will stop this madness. Add to that the endless politicization of every such situation, and I don’t know if the country can be saved except by some sort of divine intervention or other miracle. I just don’t think most people read enough, or are even willing to consider contrary notions, or to understand history or any of the “boring” things you and I take for granted as necessary parts of citizenship. Hell, even the idea of citizenship seems to be dead, or dying. How do we combat this? I’m not sure we can.

the unit

Yes, the endless polarization caused by the purposeful “stray voltage” makes it hard to stay focused on essential issues, like determining what are the real motivations behind the path we’re on.
“Divine intervention or other miracle.” Yeah, I guess we’ll trudge on ’til then. It’s happened before. George Washington called the American victory in the Revolutionary war “little short of a standing miracle.” I read a Frenchman said at the time “He never has more resources, than when he seems to have no more.” (But they weren’t “snowflakes” so how would they know? /sar)
All you say makes good sense and should be applied. As for backpacks, why do students need them anyway? Are they still required to buy school book publishers books? And oh yeah, bullet proof ones for sale now. Got to carry something? Get a Radio Flyer little red wagon and have marked wagon paths down the hallways, hygiene vending machines in the restrooms, and etc. (that’s hallucinating out of the box, lol).